News from the Hampden-Sydney Sciences 2020-21 - H-SC Websites at H-SC
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H-SC Journal of the Sciences (2020) Vol. IX
News from the Hampden-Sydney Sciences 2020-21
Work continues on new Pauley Science Center; Spring 2022 opening planned
The pictures on the left show the substantial
progress made on the new Pauley Science Center as
of April 2021. The new Center, standing on the site of
the former Bagby Hall, is expected to open in the
spring of 2022. The building will house several new
features, including a full vivarium for care of animals
involved in science projects, and the Hinton-Baxter-
Overcash Immersive Biology Laboratory, a well-
equipped, state-of-the-art research space made
possible by an anonymous $1 million donation to the
College.
Biology—by Kristian M. Hargadon ‘01
The 2020-2021 academic year, marked by the
COVID-19 pandemic, was certainly a different year at
colleges and universities across the country, but it was
nevertheless a busy and productive year for faculty of
the Biology Department at H-SC. Serving in her first
year as Chair of the Department, Dr. Rachel Goodman
led the department through many COVID-19-related
challenges, including two tenure-track searches that
were conducted for the first time using a virtual format.
Though the pandemic precluded Dr. Goodman’s
planned field projects with students this past year, she
mentored Jacob Whitney ’21 in the summer research
session, during which Jacob conducted a literature
review of COVID-19, specifically focusing on the origins
of the virus in wildlife populations, the mechanisms of
infection, the biological impact on humans, and
treatments and preventative measures at the personal
and population level.
Dr. Alex Werth, who was on sabbatical leave
Out With the Old, In With the New: The cupola of the former for the entire 2020-21 academic year, was also
Bagby Hall stands next to the construction on the new Pauley significantly impacted by COVID-19, which led to the
Science Center which is being built on Bagby’s old footprint. cancellation of many research travels that had been
planned prior to the pandemic. Despite these setbacks,
during his year away from teaching Dr. Werth stayed quite busy working on multiple research projects involving
several whale species. He also supervised the senior research project of Charlie Lemon ’21 , along with Physics
Professor Dr. Stan Cheyne, on how bubbles produced by humpback whales work to corral schooling fish.
Dr. Kristian Hargadon ’01 continued to work on various projects related to his cancer research program
over the last year. Building on his recent work related to the tumor-promoting activities of the FOXC2 transcription
factor in melanoma, Dr. Hargadon published an article highlighting the regulatory role of FOXC2 in multiple oncogenic
pathways in the journal Frontiers in Oncology. This article included Corey Williams ’19 as a co-author. In addition to
his focus on melanoma, Dr. Hargadon also recently extended his analysis of FOXC2 to several other cancer types
and published an article, featuring Eli Strong ’20 as co-author, in Cancer Genetics – this article specifically highlights
the prognostic significance of FOXC2 as a predictor of patient survival and response to chemotherapy across a
diverse array of solid malignancies. In addition to his work on FOXC2, Dr. Hargadon also mentored Jeb Wall ’22 and
Taylor McGee ’23 on bioinformatics-based projects during the College’s Summer Research Program. Jeb’s work
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H-SC Journal of the Sciences (2020) Vol. IX
involved assessing putative oxidative stress response biomarkers for cancer, while Taylor investigated the correlation
between IFNg pathway gene expression in tumor biopsies and patient survival. This latter work led to Taylor’s co-
authorship with Dr. Hargadon on an article published in Expert Review of Clinical Immunology. Following these forays
into the world of cancer bioinformatics, Dr. Hargadon also developed a novel course-based research experience
(CURE) that he introduced into his Biology 201 – Genetics and Cell Biology course in the Fall 2020 semester. Utilizing
tumor biopsy data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and online bioinformatics analysis tools, Dr. Hargadon’s students
investigated the most common genetics aberrations (mutations, copy number alterations, and differentially expressed
genes) in cancer in order to gain insights into the genetic drivers of tumor progression. This course module and its
impact on student learning led to an article that Dr. Hargadon recently published in the Journal of Cancer Education.
In addition to these projects, Dr. Hargadon also published an invited review article on immunologic and metabolic
checkpoints in the tumor microenvironment in Clinical and Translational Medicine, and he continued his role as Editor
of a new volume (Melanoma – Methods and Protocols) for the prestigious Methods in Molecular Biology book series.
This two-year project brings together cutting-edge basic science, translational, and clinical protocols from leading
researchers and oncologists around the world, and the 45 chapter volume will be released by Springer Nature in the
spring of 2021. Included in the volume are two protocol chapters authored by Dr. Hargadon, one on CRISPR-Cas9
gene editing of melanoma cells that features Corey Williams ’19, Coleman Johnson ’19, and David Bushhouse
’19 as co-authors, and another on tumor cell-lymphatic endothelial cell adhesion assays that also features Coleman
Johnson as a co-author. Outside of his teaching and research activities, Dr. Hargadon also served as reviewer for
the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program’s (CDMRP) Melanoma Research Program, and he
delivered various virtual information sessions on COVID-19 to audiences across the country.
Dr. Michael Wolyniak had a busy year serving as the President of the Virginia Academy of Science. The
big challenge of the year involved managing the public events of the Academy during a pandemic year in which all
events were held on a virtual basis. Several H-SC students became involved in a new Academy initiative designed
to mentor middle and high school classrooms around the Commonwealth in implementing authentic research projects
in classes disrupted by the pandemic. The results of this pilot have been encouraging and suggest that the program
will only increase in size as things get back to
normal. Dr. Wolyniak also advised Honors research
projects for Doug Hogan ’21, Will Sparks ’21, and
Harrison Whaley ’21 and summer research
projects for Luke Carter ’22, Caleb Manu ’23, and
Jacob Siler ’23. Several of these students had the
opportunity to present their work at regional and
national conferences, with Carter presenting his
summer work at the Sigma Xi National Student
Research Conference in the Fall of 2020, Siler
presenting his work at the Virginia Academy of
Science Fall Undergraduate Research Meeting in
the Fall of 2020, and Manu presenting at the
National Conference on Undergraduate Research
and the HHMI SEA-PHAGES Symposium in the
Spring of 2021. Dr. Wolyniak also became a Fellow
While most summer research in 2020 was conducted virtually, a few of the PULSE (Partnership for Undergraduate Life
students like Luke Carter ’22 (left) and Caleb Manu ’23 (right) were able Science Education) Network, a group dedicated to
to get in some in-person lab time in Gilmer. departmental level reform to biology curricula, and
he served on a pair of National Science Foundation
grant review panels, published multiple articles in The Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, and took part
in an external review of the Biology Department at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.
Dr. Kristin Fischer recently had an article entitled “Using Critical Analysis of Scientific Literature to Maintain
an Interactive Learning Environment for In-Person and Online Course Modalities” was accepted for publication in The
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education. This article focused on the methods used to transition her Tissue
Engineering class during the COVID-19 pandemic and was accepted for the special edition of Teaching in a Time of
Crisis. Dr. Fischer’s review article entitled “Hydrogels for Skeletal Muscle Regeneration” published in 2020 in
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H-SC Journal of the Sciences (2020) Vol. IX
Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine for the special Robert Langer 70th Birthday edition was the
2nd most downloaded article for the journal. This review included work that Dr. Fischer conducted with Tyler
McGaughey’18 and Dr. Michael Wolyniak. Dr. Fischer continued to collaborate with Dr. Paul Mueller on exploring
ZIF-8 nanoparticles as an additive to increase skeletal muscle maturation with Jonathan Duarte’21. Alex Dent’21,
Dr. Trey Thurman, and Dr. Fischer also worked on several components to create a working stretch bioreactor to
increase in vitro skeletal muscle maturation this year.
Dr. Ed Lowry continued his exciting work on invasive plant biology, which has been as relevant as ever
during this past year. As Dr. Lowry says, “Even while meetings in-person have been fewer, that has meant more time
to meet with plants!” The research of the Lowry Lab in the greenhouse moved in new fascinating directions with Jake
Beavers ’22, who received a VFIC undergraduate research grant to further the Lab’s investigations into plants coping
with environmental stress and tolerance in extreme environments. Earlier in 2019, the Lab and Jake organized the
class projects of Ecology to look at plant growth in simulated Mars-like soil, following published work of undergraduate
classes at other institutions like Villanova and the University of Chicago. Jake then took the idea one step further,
planning experiments and setting up high-energy UV lights in the H-SC greenhouse to simulate the sort of radiation
that could be encountered one day by plants grown in extraterrestrial environments, such as on Mars or space
habitats that would lack the protective layers of atmosphere of the Earth. The preliminary data have been fascinating
and have led to more class projects this past year and a further set of experiments planned for this summer. Jake
and Dr. Lowry hope to present results of the research this coming year at a national scientific conference.
Professor T. Bryan Tims '98 spent time during the spring and summer of 2020 in Richmond at the Division
of Consolidated Laboratory Services, the Public Health Lab of Virginia. This lab was instrumental for bringing up
COVID-19 testing for the citizens of Virginia at a time when little commercial or hospital testing was available. His
work there in support of the Molecular Laboratory focused on validating new methods from the CDC for high-
throughput COVID-19 testing, supply management, and reporting of results to local health departments. Professor
Tims tested various other outbreaks during the 15 years he worked at DCLS before coming to Hampden-Sydney.
Chemistry—by Timothy M. Reichart
The Chemistry Department did chemistry during a pandemic as chemists do chemistry during a pandemic.
We adapted both lecture and laboratory experiences to accommodate quarantines, isolations, and the 10-4
schedule, with safety as our chief concern. In the Spring semester both the introductory and intermediate
laboratory courses were run in the four-week term, giving students a realistic flavor of what doing chemistry every
day feels like. This was probably hardest on Mrs. Beverly Hines, who admirably and wonderfully adapted from
one laboratory course meeting per day, to every laboratory course meeting
every day.
These adaptions did not diminish the research efforts of our students.
Department Chair Dr. Nicholas Deifel guided the Honors Projects of Brahm
Dean ’21, who investigated the synthesis of one-pot non-C2 symmetric Schiff
base ligands for catalytic oxidations, and Brennan Vaught ’21, who designed
and synthesized FRET-based probes to detect transition metals in solution.
Nathan Houser ’21 had both Dr. Deifel and Dr. Herb Sipe serve as joint
mentors for an Honors Project in which he synthesized some copper (II)
compounds with various ligands and studied their EPR spectra, with an eye
towards correlating those compounds’ catalytic activity with said spectra.
Ryan Yeates ’21, working with Dr. Paul Mueller, pursued a
computational Honors Project wherein he identified potential antibiotics by
analyzing the binding of small peptides to bacterial IgA1 proteases. Jonathan
Duarte ’21 worked with both Dr. Mueller and Assistant Professor of Biology
Dr. Tim Reichart joined the H-SC Dr. Kristin Fischer synthesized zeolite imidazole framework-8 nanoparticles
Chemistry faculty in 2020 as the new as potential additives to enhance myoblast proliferation. Several of our
biochemist seniors, Skylar Akers ’21, Andrew Hay ’21, and Marcellus Wiggins ’21,
chose breadth instead of depth to finish their undergraduate chemical training
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and completed additional advanced lab projects with multiple professors. Likewise, Dr. Kevin Dunn balanced the
direction of advanced lab projects with an offering of the always popular course in Caveman Chemistry, showing a
wider Hampden-Sydney audience the power of everyday chemistry.
Several of our majors and a pair of biology majors pursued yearlong research projects on the synthesis and
analysis of transmembrane domains of different proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus with new Assistant Professor
Timothy Reichart. Alexander Washington ’21 spent his Honors Project studying the Spike protein, while
Damian Martinez-Pineda ’21 studied the accessory protein 7a. Biology majors Matthew Rehak ’21 and Donovan
Quinn ’21 studied the Envelope and Membrane proteins, respectively.
Dr. Timothy Reichart joined us this academic year as an
assistant professor. He grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, earned a B.S. in
Chemistry at the University of Virginia, before a series of long moves.
He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Scripps Research in La Jolla,
California. He won a National Research Council Fellowship in
Chemical and Biological Defense to pursue postdoctoral research at
the US Army Combat Capabilities Command Soldier Center in Natick,
Massachusetts, before pursuing further postdoctoral studies at the
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland as a Marie
Sklodowska-Curie / EPFL Fellow. He returns to Virginia excited to
teach courses throughout the chemistry curriculum and to pursue
research in peptide and protein chemistry, with a special emphasis on Dr. Herb Sipe and Daniel Smith ’22 pose with
the department’s new JEOL X-310 ESR.
identifying new targets for the development of antiviral therapies.
As a personal note, Dr. Reichart would like to thank the entire
department—students and colleagues—for being so welcoming to me during such a difficult year. This year was
atyptical in nearly every way, but even a newcomer can see that the kindness, camaraderie, and fellowship seen so
far is but a sign of great things to come. He is looking forward to continuing our journeys together, with the next
step of an exciting program of summer research.
Mathematics and Computer Science — by Brian C. Lins
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, members of the Math & Computer Science department have stayed busy this
year. Dr. Brian Lins wrote a paper "Numerical ranges encircled by analytic curves" which was recently accepted to
appear in the journal *Operators and Matrices*.
Dr. Rebecca Jayne had a publication accepted in the journal *Algebras and Representation Theory* entitled
"Multiplicities of Some Maximal Dominant Weights of the ŝl(n)-Modules V(kΛ₀)" with coauthor K.C. Misra.
Dr Michael Stayer's papers "Unified characterizations of minuscule Kac–Moody representations built from colored
posets" and "Classifications of Γ-colored d-complete posets and
upper P-minuscule Borel representations" both appeared in the
Electronic Journal of Combinatorics, the former in June 2020
and the latter in January 2021. Dr. Strayer also wrote a third
paper, "Classifications of Γ-colored minuscule posets and P-
minuscule Kac–Moody representations," which is currently
under review in another journal.
Senior computer science major Ryan Irizarry has been working
on an honors research project entitled "Machine learning with
convolutional neural networks" with Dr. Paul Hemler as his
faculty advisor.
After teaching at Hampden-Sydney since 1981, Dr. Robb
Dr. Robb Koether retired in 2020 after almost 40 years
of teaching at Hampden-Sydney
Koether retired last spring. Dr. Koether has been a huge part
of our department, teaching both math and computer science
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courses. He is an avid hiker and loved riding his bike to work. We will all miss Dr. Koether's dry humor and his
good-natured support for the students and other faculty of the math & computer science department. We wish him
all the best in his retirement.
Physics & Astronomy – by Hugh O. “Trey” Thurman III
The 2020-21 academic year was another busy year for the Physics and Astronomy department. Dr. Steve
Bloom was on sabbatical and Dr. Mike McDermott continued his service to the College as the Dean of the
Faculty. The department is pleased to have 11 graduating seniors. One of these seniors, Tyler Howerton ‘21, was
awarded a Goldwater Scholarship and another, Phil Pullen ‘21, is finishing his term as Student Body President.
Dr. Bloom has been on sabbatical for the 2020-2021 academic year, primarily working on journal articles related to
numerical assignments from his Physics 331 (Mechanics) class. The first publication is related to runway lengths
and how they relate to the forces acting on an airplane. This has been submitted to the American Journal of
Physics and Dr. Bloom is now working on revisions suggested by reviewers. His next project will be related to
rockets and possible travel to Mars. He also continues his work on the origin of gamma rays from quasars and is
interested in monitoring quasars with the HSC Observatory.
During the 2020 – 21 academic year, Professor Stan Cheyne and Eliot Chandler ‘22 continued research on
sound speed measurements in ethanol/water solutions. Sound speed measurements were made with a standard
time-of-flight technique while changing the percent ethanol and temperature. The data obtained will be used as a
database for an acoustic hydrometer to be designed and construct during the summer of 2021. Professor Cheyne
also had a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America on previous work
entitled, “Sound speed measurements in ethanol/water solutions and Kentucky bourbon whiskey”.
During the past year Dr. Jonathan Keohane’s primary accomplishment has been the automation of the Hampden-
Sydney Observatory. This has primarily required upgrading the observatory dome mechanisms, by installing new
dome control hardware and software, upgrading weather sensor capabilities, and installing a rails to power the
dome slit. Senior astronomy minor Brennon Kimbler ‘21 and physics major Nicolas Graziano ‘21 are currently
working on the project, along with our technician Anthony Pinchefsky. In addition, Dr. Keohane’s textbook titled,
“An Introduction to Classical Electrodynamics,” by J.W. Keohane and J.P. Foy, sold 120 copies over that past 12
months.
During the 2020-21 academic year, Professor Trey Thurman conducted three independent study courses with
Christian Reed ‘21, Jared Medwar ‘21, and AJ Howard ‘21. Mr. Reed conducted independent research on AC
impedance spectroscopy of concrete to determine the strength of the concrete through electrical methods. Mr.
Medwar developed a series of experiments that are focused on structural engineering. These will be incorporated in
our Experimental Physics and Statics courses. Lastly, Mr. Howard worked on developing ethics assignments for
students in engineering and science.
Psychology—by Ivo I. Gyurovski ‘09
The last year has been marked by many challenges brought by the pandemic. Nonetheless, the Psychology
Department continues to contribute to the College’s mission to form good men and good citizens in an atmosphere
of sound learning by focusing on research and teaching. We have been implementing the newly restructured
Psychology Major while maintaining active research programs in and out of the classroom experience.
While on sabbatical, Professor Dan Weese continued his line of research examining the role of the rostal
thalamic reticular nucleus (rTRN) in action selection. In a recent study he demonstrated that the diminished
inhibition of the motor nuclei on the side of the rTRN lesion produces a weakened ability to deselect the incorrect
contralateral response. He proposed that the sensory and motor sectors of the TRN are functionally similar and the
rTRN increases the contrast between a selected and non-selected action. Professor Weese is also continuing his
collaboration with Professor Josh Burk at the College of William and Mary where they focus on studying the role of
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orexin (a neurotransmitter released by neurons originating in the lateral hypothalamus) in the regulation of
attention. He has also worked with senior Damian Martinez Pineda ’21 on setting up the lab with new apparatus to
establish a single-unit recording procedure in rats.
Professor Jennifer Vitale and Professor Ivo Gyurovski have been collaborating on project investigating
how individual differences in personal finance management impact consumers’ choices and behavior as well as
their income and creditworthiness. Professor Dan Mossler will be retiring in the Spring of 2021 having served the
college in many ways, primarily as a faculty member in the department. His courses centered mainly on
understanding the psychology of lifespan development, such as his popular course Psychology of Adolescence.
Professor Mossler has influenced every student majoring in psychology through his Quantitative Analysis course.
He also taught topics courses examining controversial issues in psychology and wellbeing during the pandemic.
Professor Gyurovski and Evan Lester ’21 collaborated on research examining the effects of political
affiliation on outcome bias. It has been established that information
pertaining to the outcome of a decision has a significant impact on
people’s attitudes of the decision itself. This effect is referred to as
outcome bias. Republican and Democratic participants were presented
with descriptions and outcomes of decisions made by politicians. The
decisions concerned public policies in response to the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic. Participants’ task was to evaluate decision
quality. Their results showed that policies that yielded successful
outcomes received significantly better evaluations than policies that
yielded failures. Democrats exhibited this tendency to a greater extent
compared to Republicans. Conversely, Republicans exhibited a greater
bias toward their own political party than did Democrats, but
Dr. Dan Mossler is retiring in 2021 after 28 Republicans gave higher ratings overall across all conditions. They are
years of service at Hampden-Sydney currently working on follow-up studies extending this work. Evan
Lester ’21 presented the findings of this project at the Mid-Atlantic
Regional Conference of Undergraduate Research (MARCUS) in October 2020 and Professor Gyurovski
summarized results at the annual meeting of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making in December of the
same year.
The newly restructured major in Psychology features research-intensive courses where students have an
opportunity to be involved in research every step of the way. In one such project Tyler Hewitt ’21, Reilly
French ’21, Tucker Moore ’21, and Edmund Newman ’21 worked with Professor Gyurovski on a project
examining the effects of wearing a facemask on face perception and dating preferences. The team manipulated
whether faces were masked or unmasked, and whether it was an underage person or a person of legal age. The
results showed that wearing masks significantly impairs judgements of age and further shapes how social
perceivers judge attractiveness and desire to initiate contact.
The department was excite to initiate Tyler Hewitt ’21, Allen Smith ’21, Coleman Meadows ’22, Jackson
Eisele ’23, Reilly French ’21, and Nick Grohowski ’21 to our chapter of the Psi Chi Honor Society.
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